A woman walks down a city street, glancing at storefront windows as she goes by. Suddenly she stops, walks backwards a few paces, and turns to look through a window. She spends a few moments looking through the window, glancing at the other objects in the window, yet her eye seems drawn to one item ...read more

If you’ve outlawed religion and politics when dining with the in-laws, then you should avoid bringing up the Israeli-Palestinian conflict at your Labour Day BBQ. This volatile mixture of policy and prophecy will singe everyone on the patio, and becomes even more combustible with a little alcohol. But that doesn’t mean that there isn’t a ...read more

From the office of daily readings for August 28, Memorial of St. Augustine, Bishop and Doctor O Eternal Truth, true love and beloved eternity from The Confessions of Saint Augustine Urged to reflect upon myself, I entered under your guidance the innermost places of my being; but only because you had become my helper was ...read more

Today on Perspectives, Pope Benedict’s weekly Angelus, an Archbishop riven from Syria, Pakistani Christian children being slaughtered and the the Canadian Church seeks to help those in need. ...read more

St. Monica with her son, St. Augustine. This week we celebrate two saints who belong to the same family. More incredibly, one is responsible conversion of the other. We’re speaking, of course,  about St. Monica and St. Augustine. St. Monica was born in Tagaste, which is now Algeria. Because of her name and place of ...read more

Salt and Light cameraman David LeRoss examines an original page from the St. John’s Bible, the first handwritten Bible in hundreds of years that was commissioned by the Benedictine monks in Collegeville, Minnesota. The page is from the opening of the Gospel of John, depicting the Word made flesh amidst the cosmic energy of the ...read more

Do not be afraid. Open wide the doors for Christ. To his saving power open the boundaries of states, economic and political systems, the vast fields of culture, civilization, and development. Do not be afraid. Christ knows what is in man. He alone knows it. So often today man does not know what is within ...read more

When you first heard about the food crisis in the Sahel — if you’re not learning about it now, for the first time — you probably felt a sense of déjà vu. Wasn’t it just last year that a major famine struck Africa? Yes, but that was the Horn of Africa, consisting of Somalia, Ethiopia, ...read more

As can be seen, before being a doctrine, Christianity is an “event,” indeed, a Person: it is Jesus of Nazareth. He is the heart of the Christian faith. Hosts of saints, monks, and mystics have left everything to enjoy intimacy with him. But Christ can also be met in the world’s highways. The great Dostoyevsky, ...read more

Visitors look over the study “Mother and Child” by Henri Matisse at the Vatican Museums in this 2011 CNS photo. For the first time beginning this month, the museums will have a pair of priests serving as guides to visitors as they view the Vatican’s vast collection of artwork and artifacts. CNS photo/Paul Haring ...read more